The idea here is one of near-sociopathic cold calculation: Romney hopes that he’s thrown enough red meat to the radical anti-choice crowd that they will assume he’s lying to the moderates now and thus will nod and wink when he says non-insane things. Romney also hopes that moderates either haven’t been paying attention so far or will assume that he was just lying to his base to get through the primaries, and is only revealing his true self now.

I don’t know if Romney has a true self other than Silly Putty, but we need a new phrase for what Romney is asking Republican voters to do:

Romney Roulette – Backing a candidate that you know for sure will betray someone and hoping that someone isn’t you.
Rachel Maddow took Romney to the woodshed on Wednesday night.

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien didn’t go any easier on RNC chair Reince Priebus when it came to Romney’s weaseling.

Way to refuse to put up with eelspeak, Soledad.

And would the week be complete without a “pro-life” congressman deciding the rules didn’t apply to him? Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) actually recorded himself pressuring his mistress to get an abortion. Huh. It’s almost like a bunch of the dudes in the anti-choice movement are more interested in grandstanding and controlling women than they are in protecting life.

Tired of this nonsense? Lizz Winstead is too, and so she founded Lady Parts Justice. Go on over and give it a looksee.

And the good people at Draw the Line are pushing for a Bill of Reproductive Rights. Do you want to see Meryl Streep explain why you should sign? Yes you do. (Via Feministing.)

Bonus: If you sign, Amy Poehler will tell you you’re cool.

So where is Romney’s female support coming from? Selma Blair explains. (Just a wee bit NSFW.)

Representative Scott Tipton (R-CO) thinks that the Nuns on a Bus are being “divisive” when they point out that Paul Ryan’s proposed GOP budget really screws over the poor. And by “screws over,” I mean “cuts off from educational opportunities and quite possibly starves.” Apparently nuns shouldn’t be worrying about such things. There really are a lot of powerful men who have ideas about what nuns should and should not think. Perhaps they could do morning pages or write in their journals more to get it out of their systems.

Yekaterina Samutsevich of Pussy Riothas been freed, but Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are still in custody and will be sent to a penal colony to serve out their sentences. Yes, their lawyers will continue to appeal. Christiane Amanpourbagged an interview with Samutsevich.

Sally Field spoke about how she loves her gay son, and about how not loving your LGBT kid is not an acceptable option.

About 3,000 people sent me this video (Send me things!), and I would like to thank each and every one of them. Get ready to spend a very enjoyable 15 minutes watching Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard pounding opposition leader Tony Abbott with the Hammer of Indignant Justice. The Telegraphhas a few more details on the political complexities that led to this speech.

Wow. Rebekah Dryden over at the MaddowBlog wrote up this no-screwing-around ad that North Carolina State Senate candidate Deb Butler is running. That is some terrific plain speaking about why local elections really matter.